Can Humanity Rein In The Rise Of The Machines?

Opinions expressed by Hawking, Gates, and Musk about the dangers of artificial intelligence rang loud and clear in 2015, and continue to echo into the new year. Since then, there have been plenty of predictions of humanity’s doom at the hands of autonomous machines. But there have been leading thinkers in the AI space who have also come out from behind the curtain to play devil’s advocate and make clear opposing positions. In a recent TechEmergence interview, Author and Artificial Intelligence Researcher Dr. Steve Omohundro says that we’re still in the very early stages of AI development and future directions still lie in the decisions that we make today. According to Omohundro, technology is driving a major transformation in society. To illustrate, he cited estimates that $50 trillion of value will be created by artificial…